Kenny Chesney is among the dozens of artists who had to alter their 2020 tour plans, with his Chillaxification Tour dealt a month-long postponement this spring. But despite the ongoing pandemic, the country star is keeping his hopes up that he’ll be able to reconnect with fans on the road.
Chesney’s latest outing is an ambitious one slated to visit a mix of NFL stadiums and amphitheaters. The Chillaxification Tour was originally supposed to launch April 18 but is now set to set to begin May 30 at Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field.
“I think we’re cautiously optimistic — but like I said, cautiously — about playing music this year. But honestly, we play a lot of the venues that the NFL play. We’re just kind of watching what happens with that, and we’ll see,” the singer told The Tennessean.
Select venues have begun detailing how live events can resume and while it may be possible, it won’t give Chesney the typical concert environment he’s come accustomed to throughout his career. As a regular stadium headliner, any potential Kenny Chesney concert could mirror Hard Rock Stadium mock-up plans involving drastically reduced capacity, face mask requirements and more. Smaller venues, like an Arkansas concert hall planning one of the shows post-lockdown, are taking those safety measures even further to stage shows.
Whether or not Chesney is able to carry out his tour this year, he is taking solace in the fact that fans can now enjoy his latest album Here and Now, released last week.
“Anything that can occupy our brain and make us feel happy, I think that’s what a lot of these songs do,” he said of the LP. “A lot of them reminded me to try to live in the moment, live within these songs and be happy. That’s what I think is the true thread of this record, and I feel like it’s a good time for it to come out.”
